Tuesday was a fairly normal day-- introducing vocabulary (which is normally done on Mondays) to the Language Arts classes that receive ESL support, reading with the 8th graders, and sitting in on the British Literature class in the afternoon. Wednesday was the same-- reading with the Language Arts classes, working on my lesson plans for next week, and sitting in on the American Literature class's introduction to "Paradise Lost." Good luck, sophomores!
Thursday was a bit out of the norm. First, I received my first in-class observation from my supervisor during the 9am 1st grade class. Normally, I don't do a lot of work with these students because Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I am with 5th grade until 9:30, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays I spend the whole hour with them. On Thursday, the students were working on finishing a test from a previous story, so I walked around, provided support, answered questions, etc., and then I read with half of the class. Seems like a pretty smooth class to be observed during, right? Wrong.
Over the long weekend, I came up with a few vocabulary review activities for my cooperating teacher. On Wednesday, I worked with half of the students on one of the activities during a centers class. Up to this point, it seemed as though I had built a trusting, comfortable relationship with all of the students in the 1st grade classes (a total of 9 students). Even the newest students, who just joined the pull-out program in the past week or so, seemed to trust me and want my support. Creating a fun review activity that they got to participate in seemed like the icing on the cake.
Everything seemed to be going great through the test. I helped the kids read the questions, reworded them for easier comprehension, referred to their previously-acquired knowledge, and couldn't help but smile when I saw the students working so diligently as they recalled information with minimal support. Then, all of the sudden I heard this annoying clunking sound. I looked at the fans-- that wasn't it. Looked at the aide working on the computer-- that wasn't it. Looked at the newest student in the class-- that was it. There he sat, dropping his eraser down the rings of his 3-ring binder, pencil on the desk, test incomplete. I approached him and asked if he was finished. He ignored me. I asked him if he needed help. He shook his head and proceeded dropping the eraser down the rings. I asked him if he could put the eraser down because other students were still testing. Ignored again. I took a deep breath, grabbed the eraser, and asked him if he was having trouble understanding the questions on the test. He shook his head and looked the other way. Meanwhile, the door had opened, my supervisor walked in, and I had been observed as my patience was tested. A few moments later, time was called, tests were collected, and the students split into their centers.
In my reading center, I had the two boys, one of which was the student I just described. I sat down, handed them the stories I wrote over the weekend incorporating review vocabulary words, and explained to them what we were going to do: read the story together, then take turns reading, and then a little game for points (and candy). One of the boy's faces lit up, the other's did not. Instead, he flipped over the paper and said "I will read it like this!" I flipped the paper back over and responded, "No, I think it's best to read it this way." I asked them to follow along with their fingers. "I don't have fingers," he interjected as he held up two fists. I smiled and responded, "Really, I see 10 right there, and I think you can spare one of those to follow along." I gently guided one hand to the first sentence and began reading. After 2 lines in the story, I realized he wasn't going to pay attention. "(student name here), how many points do you have right now?" I asked him, soft enough to not make a scene, but stern enough to know that he wasn't getting away with not paying attention. "Four," he said. "How many points do you want? I can take some away if you'd like." He shook his head and began reading. I smiled and said, "OK, let's start at the beginning."
The rest of the reading went a lot smoother. Sure, there was still some goofing around and some silly answers to my questions, but at the end of the lesson, he had met my expectations of following along, participating appropriately, and recognizing and demonstrating an understanding of the vocabulary words in the story. And at the end of the day, he's still a first grader. It's OK that he didn't understand the story perfectly, and it's OK that he wanted to have fun, and it's great that he gave me the attention and participation I asked for. The class ended and I gave each student the appropriate amount of points they deserved. The students exited the class and my supervisor approached me. That morning I received one of the greatest compliments of my life-- good classroom management. I think being a student teacher, that's the hardest thing to establish. The students all have previous expectations from the cooperating teacher, and establishing my own classroom management makes it difficult. Apparently, I did a good job.
Half an hour later, I headed up to third grade: field trip day! We had been reading a story about a baker and his bread, so naturally we had to take the students to a bakery. On the field trip, we learned the entire process of making a pizza (from the owner's 5th grade son-- so precious), made animal-shaped bread, assembled our own pizzas, and ate it. It was so much fun, but so exhausting! After the field trip, I returned just in time to meet with the 5th grade Language Arts team (gen ed teacher, SST teacher, ESL teacher, and myself) to plan for next week-- the week I take over the ESL teacher's responsibility in that classroom. It was a great meeting-- presenting my ideas for a vocabulary introductory activity, receiving feedback, asking questions, and coming out with what I feel like is a well thought out activity and assessment. I can't wait to put it all into action next week!
Friday was another fairly normal day, minus the puking of a third grader that I "got to" help clean up. At the end of the week, my mind and body were left drained and ready for a relaxing weekend. I cannot emphasize how much more rewarding weekends are as a teacher than a 12-credit college student.
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